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Mar. 24, 2010

Leap Wireless’ Cricket subsidiary will soon provide nearly nationwide voice calling for $30 a month in about 42 U.S. states beginning in July.

The new plans update the wireless carrier’s previous offering by providing for home calling in the top 125 markets across all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico thanks to new roaming agreements with other but unannounced wireless carriers.

With these new plans, Cricket's customers can add unlimited text messaging and other features at $10 increments culminating with its $60 Premium Plan that includes virtually all of Cricket’s offerings, including 100 roaming minutes for calls made from outside the expanded coverage area.

Leap added that those calls would regularly be charged at 25 cents per minute, however.

Cricket’s previous offering was limited to phone calls placed from markets that were either covered by the carrier’s native network or those covered through a roaming agreement with fellow unlimited calling provider MetroPCS.

The new plans undercut similar nationwide offerings from rivals, including Sprint Nextel’s Boost Mobile division’s $50 per month plan that includes unlimited voice, messaging and data services, as well as that from Tracfone Wireless’ Straight Talk service that provides for unlimited voice, messaging and limited data services for $45 a month.

Cricket also includes nationwide text messaging, unlimited picture messaging from its home network and unlimited Internet utilization for $40 a month.

Wireless industry analysts were initially hesitant to predict unlimited voice calling plans would dip below the $50 barrier first introduced by Boost Mobile in April 2009, but have since witnessed that move matched by nationwide operators and further slashed by Leap’s latest offering.

The ongoing price wars among many mobile service operators is increasing and there appears to be no end in sight, at least for now.

It will be interesting to see which market participants follow in Leap's foot steps. We will keep you posted.

Last month, some rumors suggest that Leap Wireless could be in the market to sell its business or possibly merge with another wireless carrier. The Wall Street Journal is saying that Leap has hired a few advisers and formed a special board committee to evaluate its options.

Citing some individuals familiar with the matter, the Journal says Goldman Sachs was hired to advise Leap Wireless as it looks at its various options.

The concept of Leap Wireless selling its business or otherwise merging with another mobile carrier comes up quite frequently.

In September of 2007, the company rejected an unsolicited proposal from MetroPCS Communications to merge. Then a year later, the two reached a national roaming agreement and settled litigation related to intellectual property.

A Leap Wireless spokesman said the company doesn't comment on rumors or speculation.

According to the WSJ, Leap's advisers have been "testing the waters" of larger wireless carriers such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless to see if they would be interested in acquiring the company.

If merger talks were to progress further, any transaction would likely face tighter scrutiny by the FCC than years past. The largest wireless carriers already have acquired many smaller ones – through deals approved by previous commissions – and the current composition of the FCC has signaled an aggressive stance in overseeing the competitiveness of the mobile service industry.

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Source: Leap Wireless.